Ms. R's Blog

What did I see?

Our first experience at Manual high school was not what I expected. Interestingly though, I think it is what we were intended to see. A schedule was made for us before we arrived. The classes we were placed in were very interesting, the teachers were great, and the students were engaged – but that’s the problem! I have learned from our conversations during the past week that Manual is not a high performing school. What were we missing? I know that they have struggles and that many students are not doing well. I did not see this. What I saw when I went to Manual were the classrooms they wanted me to see. The teachers they wanted me to see. At least that is how it felt… But maybe I am wrong to assume this. Maybe Manual actually is a great school but the standardized tests that determine their SPF score are not accurately testing the school in a culturally responsive way.

I don’t mean to be negative; I more just want to understand why the classrooms I saw do not reflect the overall school performance. I want an honest perception of the school so I can formulate my own opinions.

Thinking positively about what I DID see, there were some great things. During one class I visited, the students were writing slam poetry about language, power, and identity. The students were engaged and dedicated to what they were doing. It was so interesting to see students who were so deeply and personally invested in their work. Although many of them complained they weren’t done writing when the teacher asked them to share with the class, their words were incredibly powerful.

I found this experience to be a great example of the potential for culturally responsive teaching and how it can engage students and create a classroom climate of supportive learning. I do not think the experience the students had in this class was a common one, but I think it should be. We talk about new schools coming in and replacing the already existing ones. Why not instead have confidence in what is already there and try to work with what we know works. We do not have to invent the wheel again! Manual may not be a high performing school but this was a high performing class so why not take the methods this teacher used to engage the students and use this in other classes. Couldn’t we try something like this that we have seen in action and know works instead of completely giving up and starting from new? What kind of message are we sending students by giving up on their schools?

HCU CR 2/24/16

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4 thoughts on “What did I see?”

Beautiful post Chloe and glad you are seeing and experiencing culturally responsive teaching at it’s best. I didn’t expect you to see anything but good teaching at Manual, so yeah, how the public is led to perceive schools is clearly wrong. How can we make the truth clear?

Very interesting how what we heard about Manuel was not what you saw. Since it seemed the administration did this on purpose what do you think are reasons for them doing this? One may be they wanted to paint a positive image of their school to prove what we have heard has been wrong. The classroom you did see seems like an awesome example of culturally responsive teaching. What are some things you will take away from this experience that you could use if you enter education in the future? I really enjoyed the time we got to see Manuel. It seemed like the school had an awesome culture and every knew each other. I wish my experience in high school experience could have been more like this. Meeting with the Manuel students showed how much they care about their school and enjoy their education.

I like your last line: “What kind of message are we sending students by giving up on their schools?” These students are more than just their test scores and SPF numbers. They are young people living their own meaningful lives and I feel that the board just sees them as numbers that they need to get up. The graduating rate needs to increase, the achievement gap needs to close, these numbers need to change in this way. But what does this actually mean in a qualitative sense? Although you may not be seeing the actuality of education at Manual, I’m glad that you were still able to see culturally responsive classes that addressed the students as more than just numbers and percentages. Because creating well-rounded, aware, and empowered citizens is so much more important.

I had similar thoughts about organized schedules at these schools. I wondered if the schedules were made to showcase good teaching, or to hide what we shouldn’t see. Seeing good teaching happen made me wonder how to really engage my students in the future and empower them.
I continually thought about what Candi said, that education should empower students. Manual does empower them. How can we reinvent all schools to empower students?
Allison